CONCORD People will want to hold onto their balloons if the Senate agrees with a House vote yesterday to ban balloon releases.
By a vote of 215 to 111, the House approved a bill that treats balloon releases as a form of littering.
HB 62 originally barred the release of two dozen or more lighter-than-air balloons.
The version that passed yesterday could bring a $250 fine for even a single balloon let loose. A second offense could bring a $500 fine. The bill specifically exempts hot air balloons, weather balloons and others released as part of scientific research.
The bill does not penalize accidental releases.
Those who favored the bill said the balloon materials, including the attached strings and ribbons, pose a serious threat to wildlife. Whales, turtles and seabirds that live along New Hampshire's coastline mistakenly eat floating balloons thinking they are food, and then are unable to eat real food.
"Do we now get balloon police?" Rep. Randolph Holden, R-Goffstown, asked.
Rep. Kevin Waterhouse, R-Windham, said police officers would be given enforcement responsibility.
A move to give the job to Fish and Game officers was rejected, since the department is under budget pressure already.
He said people need to be aware that balloon releases cause real harm to wildlife.
"It doesn't just go to heaven and disappear. It comes back down again," Waterhouse said.
Waterhouse said he was inspired to sponsor the bill by a group of homeschoolers studying ecology.
PARIS (AFP) - France became the first country to open its files on UFOs Thursday when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades. The online archives, which will be updated as new cases are reported, catalogues in minute detail cases ranging from the easily dismissed to a handful that continue to perplex even hard-nosed scientists.
"It is a world first," said Jacques Patenet, the aeronautical engineer who heads the office for the study of "non-identified aerospatial phenomena." Known as OVNIs in French, UFOs have always generated intense interest along with countless conspiracy theories about secretive government cover-ups of findings deemed too sensitive or alarming for public consumption.
"Cases such as the lady who reported seeing an object that looked like a flying roll of toilet paper" are clearly not worth investigating, said Patenet.
But many others involving multiple sightings -- in at least one case involving thousands of people across France -- and evidence such as burn marks and radar trackings showing flight patterns or accelerations that defy the laws of physics are taken very seriously.
more at link
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/22/2007 12:17 ||
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You too can own a fleet of UFOs! Or in this case chinese sky lanterns (tissue paper hot air ballons)
see: http://www.skylighter.com/mall/novelty.asp
Posted by: bruce ||
03/22/2007 12:36 Comments ||
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Heh, I wonder if my black French WarKite with 'em blinkin lights is listed.
A lot can change in 28 days. After checking into the Promises rehab facility in Malibu, California on Feb. 21, Britney Spears has completed her month-long stint in the luxury rehab center. Upon her exit from Promises, Britney Spears' manager told the world she had successfully completed her rehab program, and now Spears is asking for privacy while she rebuilds her life. The big question remains: Was 28 days long enough for Britney Spears to turn her life around?
Larry Rudolph, the manager and publicist for Britney Spears who has been doing damage control for her career, told the media that Spears left the Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility, "after successfully completing their program." The statement then read, "We ask that the media respects her privacy as well as those of her family and friends at this time." The request for privacy is almost verbatim the same plea offered by Rudolph when Britney Spears entered the rehab facility, and judging by the rumors to come out of the rehab facility, not to mention the conduct of the paparazzi, it seems unlikely they will heed this request.
The 25-year-old "Toxic" singer entered rehab after a series of increasingly bizarre incidents and erratic behavior. After allegedly passing out at the Pure nightclub in Las Vegas on New Year's, Britney has been photographed without panties, has received numerous tattoos and, as most people remember, capped it all off by shaving her head bald at an upscale beauty salon. Britney Spears have even attempted to check herself into rehab twice, though she wouldn't stay at either facility for more than 24 hours. That is, until Britney's estranged husband, Kevin Federline, threatened to take Spears' two children, Sean Preston and Jayden James, away from her.
But, with Britney Spears leaving the Promises rehab facility, is there any sign that she has turned things around? For starters, TMZ is reporting that Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are now getting along much better than before her rehab stint. Reports indicate that Spears and Federline are working on a custody deal for Sean Preston and Jayden James that will see both Britney and Kevin having joint custody. Currently, Britney Spears has full custody of the kids, though they have been staying at Kevin Federline's house while Britney Spears has been in rehab. Britney's sister, Jamie Lynn, and her mother, Lynne Spears, have reportedly been helping Federline handle the two children while Britney has been getting help.
Britney's emotional attachment to her two children may have been part of the reason Spears wound up in rehab. In late February, TMZ reported that doctors had diagnosed Britney Spears with postpartum depression following the birth of Jayden James. The report indicated that Britney Spears' drinking was a direct result of dealing with the postpartum depression, and that the situation was compounded by the fact that Britney Spears feels she has lost control of her life. If that is truly the case, it's possible that Spears has managed to meet her demons head-on, and that she truly may be ready to leave the Promises rehab facility that she has called home for the past month, but only time will tell if the former pop star is ready to return to the limelight.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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BTW: Lindsey Lohan's mom rules in on Brittney's problems.
LOHAN'S MOTHER: BRITNEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER TAKEN CARE OF LINDSAY LOHAN's mother DINA has chastised LYNNE SPEARS for not speaking out in defence of her troubled daughter BRITNEY SPEARS. Spears recently left the Promises rehabilitation centre in California after completing a 30-day program to fight substance abuse. But Dina Lohan believes the TOXIC singer's mother should have stood up for her daughter earlier against the scathing media reports criticising Spears' downward spiral into rehab. She says, "I don't know her mom. But I love this kid, and I feel so badly for her because I'm a mom. The girl is a beautiful kid. She married some guy just to get out of the limelight. Cut her some slack. "Her mother, I'm surprised she didn't come forward. I'm not gonna sit back and go, 'You're gonna trash my kid?' If my daughter was in high school, I would be at the principal's office. Hello?"
PETROL was selling at up to Z$20,000 (£42) per litre yesterday, up from Z$9,000 (£19) a week ago, and bus operators are raising their fares twice a day in Zimbabwe as the prices have soared by almost 200 per cent in a fortnight. Standard loaves of fresh bread have all but disappeared from shops since the country was plunged into crisis 12 days ago. Flour, cooking oil and sugar are also in short supply.
Tempers are on a knife-edge as inflation spirals - with Robert Mugabe's government fearful of mounting unrest. Zimbabweans have been subjected to nearly seven years of worsening economic turmoil and rapidly increasing prices, provoked by Mr Mugabe's launch of controversial land reforms in 2000. But the increases seen since 11 March - when Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition, and a number of his lieutenants were arrested and beaten by police - have been unprecedented. The pro-government Consumer Council of Zimbabwe yesterday said the price rises had subjected consumers to "untold suffering".
"It has been 12 days and some product prices have shifted by as much as 173.8 per cent - being the shift in the price of roller meal," said Rosemary Siyachitema, the head of the organisation.
Roller meal is another name for maize-meal, which is cooked into a stiff white paste called sadza, the staple food for almost all Zimbabweans. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change warned that Zimbabweans are "hungry and angry" after the brutal attack on Mr Tsvangirai, and mounting police harassment in Harare townships.
Tony Blair yesterday joined in the chorus of condemnation, telling parliament that the situation in Zimbabwe was "appalling, disgraceful and utterly tragic". The Prime Minister vowed to press for a widening of European Union sanctions against Mr Mugabe and his closest associates.
Zimbabwean authorities tried to shift the blame for the latest price hikes away from Mr Mugabe's policies and onto "unscrupulous" businessmen. Gideon Gono, the central bank governor, warned the law would "take its course" against petrol station owners. "We have no sympathy for them," Mr Gono said. Mr Gono wants to force fuel stations to sell fuel at Z$325 (69p) per litre.
"The increases never stop," whispered an assistant in a T-shirt shop in Harare's northern Borrowdale suburb yesterday. "Where's it all going to end?"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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PETROL was selling at up to Z$20,000 (£42) per litre yesterday
It was "selling"? Amazing. I wish to know more about the buyers...
One out of every four dengue cases in Mexico is hemorrhagic, the most dangerous and deadly form, Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordoba asserted.
The fight against dengue is one of the main health programs today, said Cordoba, who called for all social sectors to participate actively in its elimination.
He recalled that there was one case of hemorrhagic dengue in Mexico per every 50 cases of classical dengue seven years ago, but there is one per every four cases now, hence the urgent need to adopt the necessary measures, he explained.
According to an epidemiological general view by the Mexican Health Secretary s Office, there were 4,477 hemorrhagic-dengue cases, which caused 20 deaths.
The official said the most effective way to control the epidemic is to constantly destroy deposits of the virus transmitting agent, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
Cordoba visited Quintana Roo state, some 746 miles west of this capital, and called to intensify preventive actions and continue the joint programs among the municipal, state, and federal government levels. "Hemorrhagic", like ebola. They at least used to think that you usually had to catch the disease twice, then it would unpredictably become the hemorrhagic form. But an increase this dramatic most likely means it is something else.
#1
"This infectious disease is manifested by a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains (myalgias and arthralgias severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease) and rashes; the dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechia and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest - in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
Some cases develop much milder symptoms, which can, when no rash is present, be misdiagnosed as a flu or other viral infection. Thus, travelers from tropical areas may inadvertently pass on dengue in their home countries, having not been properly diagnosed at the height of their illness. Patients with dengue can only pass on the infection through mosquitoes or blood products while they are still febrile.
The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the fever (the so-called "biphasic pattern"). Clinically, the platelet count will drop until the patient's temperature is normal.
Cases of DHF also show higher fever, haemorrhagic phenomena, thrombocytopenia and haemoconcentration. A small proportion of cases lead to dengue shock syndrome (DSS) which has a high mortality rate."
#3
Umm, if we have to, do we ahve a way to seal the border? What happened to the 700 miles of fence?
When the day comes, there will be hard questions, and the blame should fall for every death on the idiot Republicans and their Democrat fellow travlelers who blocked building the fence. This includes George W Bush who repeatedly pushed back on enforcement and the fence.
BANJA LUKA,Bosnia-Hercegovina - British troops began withdrawing from Bosnia on Wednesday after 15 years of helping to keep the peace in the war-torn Balkan country. We have got about a 100 soldiers leaving today, British Lieutenant Helen Munro told AFP, adding the first group were mostly from the Welsh Guards, a prominent infantry regiment.
The pull-out of the entire British contingent of 600 troops in Bosnia was announced last month as part of the European Unions plans to cut its number of EUFOR peacekeepers in the country to 2,500 from 6,500. EUFOR, which took over from a NATO peacekeeping mission in 2004, is charged with carrying out military tasks set out in the Dayton peace accords that ended the Bosnian war in 1995.
The majority of the British contingent has been based in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Bosnias Serb entity, Republika Srpska.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Umm how many years was that...
***15***
... mmkay. And some say 4 years in a nation much larger and more violent isnt fast enough.
The UN envoy seeking to settle the Kosovo conflict between Serbia and ethnic Albanians will tell the UN security council next week for the first time that independence is the only viable option for the province in the southern Balkans.
Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president, who has been vainly seeking to mediate a deal between the Serbian government and the ethnic Albanian leadership for more than a year, is to present his settlement terms to the security council in New York on Monday. He will say that eight years of international administration of Kosovo has to be ended, that the province cannot return to Serbian sovereignty, and that the time has come to settle Kosovo's status. However, Russia has threatened to veto the plan if it was opposed by any party. "If there are attempts to impose on the Serbs something which is unacceptable to them, that would be unacceptable to us as well," Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, told the Russian parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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REGNUM.RU > THERE IS ALSO THE REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS. Kosovo crisis is similar to schemes which have heavily damaged or encumbered several post-USSR states. OTOH, Kosovo is viewed as already sovereign and independent ergo UNO can give it recognition as such.
#2
Clinton accused Serbs of ethnic cleansing, and waged war on their country. Serbs claimed that the intervention would spell the end of the Orthodox church in Kosovo, once Albanian Muslims were hand delivered power by slick Willy. Historical verdict on Clinton: guilty of cultural genocide against Serbs. Sentence: life imprisonment on one of the Aleutian Islands, with the concession that he may take his wife with him.
We fought the wrong side; it is a mistake to hand further triumphs to the enemy.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's top aide yesterday said he would not resign over a damaging scandal in which he was photographed talking to a transsexual sex worker.
Silvio Sircana, promoted last month from being Prodi's personal masseure spokesman to mouthpiece for the entire government, is the focus of a wider scandal in which paparazzi photographers are accused of blackmailing celebrities. Yesterday's newspapers printed a blurred photograph of Sircana, who is married with two children, in his car talking to a scantily clad cross-dressing hooker female-looking figure standing on a pavement. Sircana, a deputy and long-time Prodi confidante, said he had been devastated by the photo and called his behaviour "a moment of stupid curiosity" in a "supposed transsexual". "What were you curious about, Silvio?"
"How much it cost."
But, despite criticism from the opposition, who are battling the government in a debate on family values, Sircana said he had Prodi's full support and would not resign. "Why should I have resigned? For a non story?" he told daily La Stampa. "You don't crucify someone for this type of foolishness. You don't pillory someone in the press for a small and stupid detour on a summer night."
The image, taken last September and sold to a magazine which did not print it, was published after Sircana said he wanted it to be made public to clear the air. The scandal comes as Prodi's government has backed a Bill fiercely opposed by conservatives and the Catholic Church that would give legal recognition to unmarried and gay couples.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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A crony of President Robert Mugabe who was banned from entering the European Union under sanctions imposed on the Zimbabwean leadership was in Brussels yesterday after evading the travel ban. Edward Chindori-Chininga, a former government minister and MP for Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, is one of more than 100 regime figures named on a visa ban watch list. But he entered Belgium after apparently duping the Belgian authorities and flying to the city from Harare via Gatwick airport. The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that Mr Chindori-Chininga, 52, was spotted by opposition and human rights activists boarding an Air Zimbabwe flight in Harare on Sunday.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, confirmed to the Commons yesterday that the former minister had arrived in Brussels after being helped by an "error" by the Belgian authorities.This "error" appeared to show how easy it is for determined officials linked to Mr Mugabe's regime to flout EU sanctions. Belgian officials said yesterday that a man who "seems to be" Mr Chindori-Chininga applied for a visa at a Belgian consulate in South Africa under the shortened name of Edward Chininga. "He received a visa in Johannesburg. His name was Chininga, so when we made checks, his name did not appear on the list," said a Belgian foreign ministry official.
"We looked an' evr'thin'! Well, mostly."
European Commission officials said yesterday that action to investigate or deport Mr Chindori-Chininga must be taken by the Belgian authorities. "The commission would like the sanctions to be applied," said a spokesman.
Nelson Chamisa, an MP in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was badly beaten by government-backed thugs at Harare airport as he tried to travel to a meeting of EU, African, Caribbean and Pacific MPs in Brussels, which opened yesterday. Zanu-PF delegates were permitted to attend the meeting. But it was unclear last night why Mr Chindori-Chininga, who was not on the guest list for the meeting, was visiting Brussels.
Glenys Kinnock, the MEP and chairman of the meeting, said she regretted that the Zanu-PF delegation was allowed to enter Europe. "Early action should have been taken to prevent this situation," she said. "I hope the EU will make it clear that the delegation must leave at the earliest opportunity." Mrs Beckett faced demands yesterday that Britain take out tougher sanctions against Mr Mugabe's regime after brutal attacks on political opponents including the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
She told the House of Commons: "One of those who travelled to the meeting in Brussels was indeed on the banned list but his visa was issued in error by, I believe, the Belgian government." She dismissed suggestions that a visa had been issued by Britain for an individual to travel through London. But the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, said the issue of the mistake highlighted the fact that the EU could not "muster the consistency and courage" to enforce current measures against Harare. He asked: "Is it not now time for the EU to agree and enforce additional asset freezes and visa bans on members of the Mugabe regime?" Mrs Beckett replied: "The government of Belgium has both apologised for the error and withdrawn the visa." Mr Chindori-Chininga is believed to be a regular visitor to France despite the EU travel sanctions.
#1
But it was unclear last night why Mr Chindori-Chininga, who was not on the guest list for the meeting, was visiting Brussels.
Permit me to make a horribly cynical guess: Ol Chingadero matey was rounding up a few hard boyz to apply some pressure (i.e., mechanical force), to any opposition members brave foolish enough to show up in Brussels. At the very least he was taking down names for future "visits" once everybody gets back home.
But the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, said the issue of the mistake highlighted the fact that the EU could not "muster the consistency and courage" to enforce current measures against Harare.
The EU couldnt muster any courage and consistency on the musteringest day of their lives if they had an electrified mustering machine.
For months, former New York Post scribe Jared Paul Stern was at the center of unseemly accusations that he tried to shake down billionaire Ronald Burkle in exchange for good press in the newspaper's gossip pages.
Now Stern has fired back in a lawsuit filed Thursday against Burkle, the Post's archrival Daily News _ even former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Stern accuses of attacking him in an effort to suppress negative stories about themselves.
Represented by a longtime critic of the Clintons, Stern alleges the defendants defamed and inflicted emotional distress on him and wrecked his job as a contributor to the Post's hugely popular Page Six gossip column. He seeks unspecified damages.
A Burkle spokesman called the lawsuit "preposterous."
"We are confident that we will prevail in this action," spokesman Michael Sitrick said in an e-mail.
Daily News spokeswoman Jennifer Mauer and Jay Carson, a spokesman for the Clintons, declined to comment on the lawsuit. So did defendant William Sherman, the Daily News reporter who broke the story about the allegations against Stern last year.
Federal authorities investigated Burkle's claim that Stern demanded $100,000 and a $10,000 monthly stipend to make negative stories about him stop appearing in Page Six. Stern has repeatedly denied such an extortion attempt, and federal authorities declined to file charges.
Stern, 36, was suspended from the Post and no longer works there. He is living in upstate New York, plotting his comeback.
"Jared did not commit extortion," Stern's attorney Larry Klayman said. "He did not conduct a shakedown. The bottom line is that Burkle is in deep, hot water."
Burkle, a California supermarket mogul and political donor, has previously spoken out on the case by expressing dismay with columns like Page Six, denouncing what he called the "shoddy standards of gossip reporting."
The Clintons are friends with Burkle, and Bill Clinton also has complained about Page Six items.
Stern's lawsuit claims the Clintons "conceived of and participated in and furthered the illegal actions of the other defendants in order to destroy Page Six of the New York Post and the New York Post in general."
"This was intended as a prelude to Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency in 2008 as Page Six and the New York Post, owned and operated by Rupert Murdoch, were perceived as significant impediments to a successful candidacy and the Clintons' return to the White House," the lawsuit alleges.
Others named in Stern's lawsuit include a spokesman for Burkle and his head of security.
Stern's attorney founded Judicial Watch and is best known for lawsuits he pursued while running the conservative legal group.
Klayman pursued ethics claims against the Clintons throughout the 1990s and represented Gennifer Flowers, who claimed she had an affair with Bill Clinton, in a defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton.
Murdoch, whose vast media holdings include Fox News and the Post, surprised liberals and conservatives alike by helping raise money for Hillary Clinton's re-election campaign last year.
Anti-war group CODEPINK is planning to take over House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office at 4:00 pm, the group said. Protesters plan to play Pin the war on the Donkey to show their frustration with the Democratic leaderships inaction of ending the war in Iraq.
CODEPINK is expecting arrests.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2007 17:48 ||
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So what'll be the response, wine and cheese or nightsticks and pepper spray?
Why do I even ask...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/22/2007 8:08 Comments ||
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Very interesting also is a GALLUP poll on Congress job approval
PRINCETON, NJ -- The modest uptick in approval of the job being done by Congress has dissipated for the most part after only two months. Congress job approval had risen over the last two months after the Democrats took over control of Congress in early January -- fueled in large part by a jump in approval among rank and file Democrats. This month, however, Congress job approval is back down to levels quite similar to where it was in 2006. Democrats have lost a good deal of the positivity exhibited in the first two months of the year after their party took over.
According to Gallup's monthly update on job approval of Congress -- in a March 11-14, 2007, national poll -- 28% of Americans approve of the job being done by Congress and 64% disapprove. This marks a substantial change from January and February, with approval down nine points and disapproval up nine points
#6
Something in the 20's is about the floor of either Donk or Trunk support. It's the core affiliation number. Now ask [not rhetorically] them if they're prepared to die for those sitting in Congress and the number will probably sink to the single digits at the first shot.
The political whodunit of the presidential campaign season was solved Wednesday after a strategist with an Internet consulting firm -- which has ties to candidate Barack Obama -- stepped forward as creator of the controversial "1984"-style Internet ad that depicted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as a "Big Brother" figure.
Philip de Vellis, a strategist with Blue State Digital, the firm that designed Obama's Web site, acknowledged that he is "ParkRidge47,'' creator of the ad. De Vellis resigned from the firm after hearing he was about to be reported as the creator by the Huffington Post blog.
Blue State Digital was responsible for the cutting-edge design of Obama's Web site. The Associated Press reported that one of the firm's founding members, Joe Rospars, took a leave from the company to work with the Obama campaign.
In a Huffington Post blog Wednesday titled "Phil de Vellis, aka ParkRidge 47,'' the creator calls himself "a proud Democrat who supports Sen. Obama'' but says he would support Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, if she were the nominee. He insisted he did the work "on a Sunday afternoon in my apartment using my personal equipment" and then uploaded it to YouTube.com and sent links around to other blogs. "This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last,'' he wrote. "The game has changed.''
Peter Leyden, who heads the New Politics Institute, a San Francisco think tank that deals with Internet and political issues, said Blue State Digital is a "very credible Web design and Web development firm that definitely knows what they're doing and are moving into broader media. They're a pretty young, Gen X kind of crew.'' The firm's clients include Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, and the Democratic National Committee. "They do a lot of solid, respectable stuff for a lot of clients and are definitely aligned more on the Democratic progressive side,'' Leyden said.
He said "it makes sense" to hear that the campaign ad creator is part of such a professional design firm. "But it bears out that (de Vellis) did not use high-end animation. (He used) a skill that is widespread in the Internet that many people in their 20s and 30s can do and on software that is accessible.''
"It's disappointing to hear that he's associated with a firm that is associated with Barack,'' he said. But "it shows that someone who has a decent amount of talent and basic tools can do meaningful political video. If he did it on the side in his day job, then he's one of hundreds of thousands who could do the same.''
Pundits, political insiders, bloggers and campaign consultants alike were buzzing this week over the mystery person who created what was described as perhaps the most groundbreaking attack ad of the young 21st century. Titled "Hillary 1984," the ad was a video remix or "mashup" of the classic Apple ad that introduced the Macintosh computer 23 years ago.
The spot shows a young, blond athlete carrying a sledgehammer running through a stadium toward the giant screen where a "Big Brother" figure drones away to the masses. The athlete -- armed with an Ipod, an image lifted from a later version of the ad, and wearing a "Barack Obama" tee shirt, smashes the screen defiantly with her hammer. The image on screen: Hillary Clinton.
The Obama campaign released a statement Wednesday about the news. "The Obama campaign or its employees had no knowledge and had nothing to do with the creation of the ad. We were notified this evening by a vendor of ours, Blue State Digital, that an employee of the company had been involved in the making of this ad. Blue State Digital has separated ties with this individual and we have been assured he did no work on our campaign's account."
#1
Taking credit for it?
Not a smart move, Phil...
Posted by: The Ghost of Vince Foster ||
03/22/2007 9:20 Comments ||
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Brilliant, actually.
He created a truly viral video, which is the holy grail of corporate advertising. They are more than willing to spend millions even on the *hope* of getting such an ad.
Which means that there is now a bidding war for this guys services. Nothing succeeds like success.
#3
Philip appears to have a history of political web dirty tricks. From The Hotline Jan 2006: As Russo and Buckeye Senate's Russell "Pounder" Hughlock -- a natural Hackett supporter and Brown skeptic -- publicized the incident, comments from anonymous users with names like Thisblogishorseshit and JewsforJesus started making antagonistic comments. Both suspected Brown's new Internet spokesperson and blogger Philip de Vellis. (Brown oversees the pro-Dem blog Grow Ohio.) De Vellis was a recent hire, and had been dispatched to put Brown's side of the story on the blogs. They couldn't prove de Vellis had done so. Their evidence was circumstantial at best -- with one big exception.
Hughlock compared the IP address on the comments to the IP address from e-mails he'd previously received from de Vellis -- and found an exact match. We contacted the Brown campaign ourselves about it, and while they were reticent to discuss accusations made by bloggers aligned with their opponent, they did take partial responsibility for the postings. De Vellis denied being the author, and pointed out the IP address listed on the comments serve the entire staff of about 30, but the campaign has acknowledged that the comments did indeed originate from their office. De Vellis said he was certain no one on Brown's Internet team had posted any of the messages, but said: "We haven't done an in-depth investigation." Rather, the Brown campaign quietly circulated a policy memo: Interns and staffers may no longer contribute to any blog save for Grow Ohio. This is a direction other campaigns will follow, lest they have to learn the same lesson.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2007 12:51 Comments ||
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#4
Google is a wonderful thing. From ZoomInfo People directory:
De Vellis, Philip - Dean for America
A Deaniac, now there's a surprise
Philip de Vellis: Coordinator, Southwest Voter Express.
When you have to get voters there overnight!
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2007 13:01 Comments ||
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#5
OK, last one. He's got post-production experience. Listed in credits for a Watchfilms movie called "Lipstick" (A Planned Parenthood of Orange County written film", he's listed as "Titles by Phil De Vellis".
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2007 13:15 Comments ||
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Ok, this is the last one. MTV.com Choose or Lose Mar 2004:
But just as some Dean supporters might be loathe to vote for Kerry because they view him as a typical insider politician, there are also those who might depart from the political process altogether. Many of the young people who signed on for the Dean campaign were political virgins, having never worked on a campaign before or, in many cases, even voted in an election.
But for those, like Philip de Vellis, one of the volunteer coordinators on Dean's national campaign, there's hope for the newbies yet. "Once you get involved in something like this, it's kind of addictive, so a good number of people get involved and stay involved. And it's kind of boring once you go back to your regular thing. The closer you were to the action, the more you miss it."
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2007 13:26 Comments ||
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There are two Americas. This is the kind John Edwards lives in.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Tuesday defended the construction of a sprawling, 28,000-square-foot house in North Carolina, arguing that his home is a model of energy efficiency. Betcha the utilities bill is more than $50/month. Major conspicuous consumption. The house itself is bigger than most people's building lots. (1 Acre = 43,560 square feet, so the house itself is better than a half acre. By way of comparison, the Vanderbilt manse at Biltmore (pictured - Breck Boy's main house is only a 7th or an 8th that size) has four acres of floor space, though I think that includes the servants' quarters. But the indoor pool and the bowling alley are both in the main house, so there's no need for the Barn. Vanderbilt could keep his polo ponies in his barns. Edwards' have to be boarded.)
"The house was built from the beginning, both in its location for passive solar and the use of active solar, to help provide some of the energy for the house," Edwards said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It doesn't provide all of the energy, but it provides some." And my solar lights also provide some but it ain't running the air conditioner.
Sitting on 102 secluded acres, the 28,000-square-foot estate that Edwards and his family call home has a main house with five bedrooms and six-and-a-half baths. It's connected by a covered walkway to a bright red addition known as "The Barn," that includes its own living facilities along with a handball court, an indoor pool and an indoor basketball court with a stage at one end. Where's the swimming pool for the horses? More on the lifestyles of the rich and litigious snipped.
On energy, John Edwards would:
Cap greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2010, cutting them by 15 percent by 2020. i.e. Cut economic activity by 15%. But then, he already got his.
Push for a new treaty to bring developing nations into the battle. "The issue of global warming is a serious crisis for the world. We are near the tipping point," he said. Again, John Edwards already got his.
Create a new energy fund by selling $10 billion in greenhouse pollution permits And make Al Gore an even richer man.
and end $3 billion in subsidies for big oil companies. He would also set a goal of raising fuel efficiency standards to 40 miles per gallon. Wanna bet his cars don't get half that?
Set a goal of freezing electrical demand over the next decade Why not? All it should take is to cut off John Edwards and Al Gore from the national electrical grid.
and producing 25 percent of the nation's electricity from renewable sources. Is nuclear renewable? I know Slicksters like him produce a lot of hot air, but it's low quality, not good enough to run through a turbine.
Posted by: ed ||
03/22/2007 06:52 ||
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I was going to write something, but I just heard about his wife, and all the snark drained away.
The presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was rocked by revelations Wednesday night that one of its contracted employees was the creator of a scathing YouTube video against his opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., despite Obama's insistance that he had nothing to do with it.
Phil de Vellis, until Wednesday an employee of the company that handles Obama's Web site, boasted in a posting on the Huffington Post that he made the ad, though he claimed neither the Obama campaign nor his former employer, Blue State Digital which does software development and hosting for Obama's campaign was aware that he had.
"The specific point of the ad was that Obama represents a new kind of politics, and that Senator Clinton's 'conversation' is disingenuous," de Vellis wrote of the critical ad that uses an Apple computer TV ad to make Clinton appear like Big Brother. "And the underlying point was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power."
"This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last," de Vellis wrote ominously. "The game has changed."
The admission threatened to besmirch Obama's pledge to run a clean campaign that doesn't attack his opponents, not to mention statements Obama made earlier this week about the ad.
Obama told CNN's Larry King Monday night that "in some ways, it's the democratization of the campaign process. But it's not something that we had anything to do with or were aware of, and that frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like this."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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CNN/FOX this AM > HHHHHHMMMMM, neither have yet to name the personage - however, the Blue State Digital company was named.
#3
It was a clever add, the only real problems with it (in my humble opinion) was (a) it was done secretly instead of just admitting it came from Obama's people (b) it abused the copyright of the original ad.
If this is considered an attack add than any add that mentions your opponnent's positions is an attack add. If that's the case we'll never know anything about anyone and end up with Senators who have served less than two full terms (Clinton, OBama, Edwards) as frontrunners.
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena will hold a massive convention of its senior party representatives on Sunday to chalk out a new strategy to ensure that 80 per cent of jobs are reserved for local Maharashtrians. After Raj Thackeray, the rebel nephew of Sena chief Bal Thackeray, kicked up a controversy over "teaching Biharis a lesson" if they did not respect the local Marathi-speaking people, the Sena is raising its pet demand in a more organised manner this time.
Around 10,000 party functionaries from across the state will attend the convention organised by Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti Mahasangh, a Sena unit to protect the rights of Marathis. The Sena wants to launch a fight for a quota for Marathis in the state in all sectors - in government and semi-government organisations, railways, postal department, private enterprises, oil and insurance companies, hospitals as well as Indian and foreign banks.
The party already has its trade union presence in Indian Airlines, Air India, hotels and some oil companies. "We want economic development for Mumbai and Maharashtra but not at the cost of local people's livelihood," says Rajan Tulaskar, Vice-President of the Mahasangh.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Oh, that's just wonderful. Sri Lanka ("Home of the Tigers") did the same thing a few decades ago. The result: economic stagnation and hatred between groups that previous got along fine. Malaysia did it to discriminate against the ethnic Chinese, though the existence of devil-worshippers make it more complicated.
Oh, and our universities do it, too.
Thomas Sowell wrote Preferences and Policies about this and how it never works. It seems to be out of print.
#2
An attempt to stifle India's richest city like this will give a fillip to the campaign for statehood for several Indian cities.
Delhi is alone in being a full state of the Indian Union. The other cities see their tax revenue diverted to the vast rural hinterlands of their host states with state political power held by non city folk.
Combine this drain of resource with rent control laws and you have the urban decay that is the typical Indian city.
Throw in court ordered "rights" for "pavement dwellers" and you have a disregard of private property rights and the slow urban blight of India. There is no incentive for the property owner to upkeep his building. A contractor laying sewer pipe that stops work for the weekend may return to find people living inside stored pipe, claiming tenancy rights.
Now the rural yahoos want quotas. The cities will have to break free.
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/22/2007 15:09 Comments ||
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Not to mention the packs of stray dogs that roam Mumbai and other cities, and which have killed children recently.
Animal rights activists have prevented a cull of these feral dogs, and roundups of monkeys and cows.
All are free to roam the cities, obstruct traffic and terrorise residents.
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/22/2007 15:16 Comments ||
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In a move that is certain to discredit Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry before the Supreme Judicial Council meets on April 3 to decide his fate, Gulf News has learnt the main charges against the controversial judge centre on a series of irregular promotions he arranged for his son.
The reference filed against Chaudhry by President General Pervez Musharraf to the SJC, to which Gulf News has exclusive access, lists 35 charges include assembling a fleet of cars, demanding special flights and crimes against follicularity "protocol, above and beyond his entitlement". The reference quotes a senior official as saying that he was asked by Chaudhry to lie to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to clear the way for the employment of his son Arsalan. Chaudhry allegedly threatened the official with "consequences" if the changes were not made.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Nepotism's all right so long as you keep it in the family.
Responding to an ultimatum from the leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, bishops of the Episcopal Church have rejected a key demand to create a parallel leadership structure to serve the conservative minority of Episcopalians who oppose their churchs liberal stand on homosexuality.
The bishops, meeting at a retreat center outside of Houston, said they were aware that their decision could lead to the exclusion of the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion, an international confederation of churches tied to the Church of England. The bishops have a deep longing to remain part of the Communion, they said, but they are unwilling to compromise the Episcopal Churchs autonomy and its commitment to full equality for all people, including gay men and lesbians.
In a strongly worded statement issued Tuesday night, the bishops said the Communions attempt to impose a parallel authority structure violates our founding principles as the Episcopal Church following our own liberation from colonialism. The bishops inserted a gentle reminder that the Episcopal Church long ago declared itself independent from the Church of England. We cannot accept what would be injurious to this church and could well lead to its permanent division, the bishops said in their statement, a set of three resolutions addressed to the churchs executive council.
They called for an urgent face to face meeting in the United States with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the leader of the Church of England, and a representative committee of the churchs primates, who head the international provinces. The primates, at their meeting last month in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, are the ones who issued the formal set of demands to the Episcopal Church.
The demands also asked that the Episcopal Church refrain from ordaining openly gay bishops and stop allowing blessings of same-sex couples. The bishops, while not addressing those demands directly in their new statement, did reiterate their commitment to including all Gods people including gay men and lesbians in church life.
A spokesman for the Anglican Communion said the Archbishop of Canterbury was still digesting the statement from the American bishops and might issue a response later today. The United States bishops plan to hold a news conference late this afternoon. Many liberal and moderate Episcopalians immediately applauded the bishops for standing by their principles. Response from conservative Episcopalians ran the gamut from confusion to angry resolve that this, surely, is the last straw.
Reached by telephone as he was leaving the bishops meeting, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, who leads a network of conservatives who have been asking for alternative oversight, would only say: Im really thinking through what all this means.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2007 00:00 ||
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This will be the final thing that splinters the episcopals. The liberal churches will remain, and wither and die as they have been. They have become so open minded that the wind blows through - when you stand for nothign you will fall for anything.
The Orthodox ones will join with the African churches, and continue to thrive. this process has already begun with many of the larger and more historical Episcopal churches in the US, including the one where Patrick Henry worshiped.
#2
You have to love it. The old church died and the new one grew up from the ashes of its ministry. The sickly ol' Episcopalian geezer has been trying to keep the kids kowtowing by threatening to cut them out of the will. It looks like the kids finally got the gumption to break free and live their own life. God does indeed work in mysterious ways.
#5
The Episcopal Church is dying in this country, and the Anglican Church is in decline in the UK. The Anglicans in Africa on the other hand have large and growing communities. Africa is the future of the Anglican Church, with the Archbishop of Nigeria to soon outshine the Archbishop of Canterbury.
One of the main threats the Episcopal bishops in the US have used is physical expulsion from church property of any and all who challenge their right to rewrite the Gospel and Christian tradition. Episcopal congregations that built churches over 50 or 60 years are being told that they do NOT own any of the buildings, and that they will be locked out if they leave the Episcopal diocese they are in.
#1
And they're not even talking about the disposal issues between a conventional vehicle and a hybrid. Those batteries have to go somewhere when they die, and they do eventually die.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A lot can change in 28 days. After checking into the Promises rehab facility in Malibu, California on Feb. 21, Britney Spears has completed her month-long stint in the luxury rehab center. Upon her exit from Promises, Britney Spears' manager told the world she had successfully completed her rehab program, and now Spears is asking for privacy while she rebuilds her life. The big question remains: Was 28 days long enough for Britney Spears to turn her life around?
ETROL was selling at up to Z$20,000 (£42) per litre yesterday, up from Z$9,000 (£19) a week ago, and bus operators are raising their fares twice a day in Zimbabwe as the prices have soared by almost 200 per cent in a fortnight. Standard loaves of fresh bread have all but disappeared from shops since the country was plunged into crisis 12 days ago. Flour, cooking oil and sugar are also in short supply. 
BANJA LUKA,Bosnia-Hercegovina - British troops began withdrawing from Bosnia on Wednesday after 15 years of helping to keep the peace in the war-torn Balkan country. We have got about a 100 soldiers leaving today, British Lieutenant Helen Munro told AFP, adding the first group were mostly from the Welsh Guards, a prominent infantry regiment.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's top aide yesterday said he would not resign over a damaging scandal in which he was photographed talking to a transsexual sex worker.
A crony of President Robert Mugabe who was banned from entering the European Union under sanctions imposed on the Zimbabwean leadership was in Brussels yesterday after evading the travel ban. Edward Chindori-Chininga, a former government minister and MP for Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, is one of more than 100 regime figures named on a visa ban watch list. But he entered Belgium after apparently duping the Belgian authorities and flying to the city from Harare via Gatwick airport. The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that Mr Chindori-Chininga, 52, was spotted by opposition and human rights activists boarding an Air Zimbabwe flight in Harare on Sunday.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, confirmed to the Commons yesterday that the former minister had arrived in Brussels after being helped by an "error" by the Belgian authorities.This "error" appeared to show how easy it is for determined officials linked to Mr Mugabe's regime to flout EU sanctions. 
Belgian officials said yesterday that a man who "seems to be" Mr Chindori-Chininga applied for a visa at a Belgian consulate in South Africa under the shortened name of Edward Chininga. "He received a visa in Johannesburg. His name was Chininga, so when we made checks, his name did not appear on the list," said a Belgian foreign ministry official.
In a move that is certain to discredit Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry before the Supreme Judicial Council meets on April 3 to decide his fate, Gulf News has learnt the main charges against the controversial judge centre on a series of irregular promotions he arranged for his son.
Responding to an ultimatum from the leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, bishops of the Episcopal Church have rejected a key demand to create a parallel leadership structure to serve the conservative minority of Episcopalians who oppose their churchs liberal stand on homosexuality.
They called for an urgent face to face meeting in the United States with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the leader of the Church of England, and a representative committee of the churchs primates, who head the international provinces. The primates, at their meeting last month in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, are the ones who issued the formal set of demands to the Episcopal Church.
